


Technobabble Late Into the Night

by Ramblingandpie



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Technobabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22107985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramblingandpie/pseuds/Ramblingandpie
Summary: Shepard happens on Samantha working on a project late at night.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Samantha Traynor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	Technobabble Late Into the Night

Shepard leaned against the doorframe and watched Samantha work. The lights of the bridge glowed behind her, no crew except for EDI monitoring the trajectory that Joker had planned. That was one of the distinct advantages of AI, she had come to realize. They actually all got proper rest periods. Sometimes. When they could, and when they chose to use them.

Samantha was sitting on the floor of the conference room between the bridge and the priority communications chamber, clearly not choosing to use the time for rest. Two panels had come off the walls, and different tools and cabling were strewn across the table. Shepard waited until Samantha set down the items in her hand to wipe the sweat from her brow, and then cleared her throat.

“Shepard!” Samantha practically squeaked.

“Specialist,” Shepard replied, deadpan. “You’d better not be breaking my ship.”

“Oh, um… this… isn’t what it looks like. I think. Um. What does it look like to you?”

Shepard shrugged. “It looks like my comms specialist is burning the midnight oil. And possibly breaking my ship. What are those things, anyway?”

Samantha pointed to the table. “Mostly antennas. Oscillator. Transmitters. Lots of cable. Not everything can be done wirelessly, you know. A samoflange. Some vibranium casing. A hydrospanner.”

“Half of those sound completely made up.”

“They are. I realized you had no idea what I was talking about.”

Shepard smiled. “So what has you up so late?”

Samatha sighed. “Non-priority messages.”

Shepard furrowed her brows. “If they’re not a priority, then why are you working on them so late?”

“By non-priority, I mean I can’t send them on priority channels. Some of the Grissom students asked me to try to get messages to their families. As it turns out, we specced this ship-” Samantha placed a hand gently on one of the intact panels- “to be really good at priority messages. Not so much on the day to day stuff. What we have isn’t up to snuff.”

“So you’re installing upgrades?”

Samantha nodded. “Something like that. Each message has to go to a certain destination. I’m piggybacking onto comm systems as we pass by them. At FTL. Which is not a small feat, mind you.” She shook her screwdriver at Shepard, and worked on removing another panel as she spoke. “But that means that each packet of data, each message, has to be sent a different way. Basically, it’s a mess.”

Shepard walked to Samantha, sat on the floor next to her, and held out her hand.

“Let me help,” she said. “I may not know what a samoflange is, but righty tighty lefty loosey? That I can handle. You go focus on being my genius communications specialist.”

Samantha smiled and handed the screwdriver over. “Just remember, when you get to the last few, you have to brace the panel with your hand or you’ll strip the screw.”

“Got it.” Shepard smirked. “Do you think, with the two of us working, we’ll have some time later for that?”

They both laughed, and continued to work side-by-side until the last message was sent.


End file.
